In the Spring Memorandum, the cabinet takes 1.9 billion euros for the Lower Saxony Line. This means that the light on green stands for the railway line between Groningen and Enschede.
With the money, about 30 kilometers of track must be laid between Emmen and Veendam, creating a direct rail connection with Emmen and Enschede from Groningen. According to coalition party BBB, the money comes from a pot of 3.4 billion euros that was previously reserved for the Lelylijn.
For a long time it didn’t seem like it would come to that, says Barkhof. “A lot more money is needed for defense, so we already saw the shower hanging. But suddenly the message came out this morning that the money is there. We still have to recover completely.”
The provinces of Drenthe and Groningen have major plans for housing, education and economic development along the Lower Saxony Line. But according to the two authorities, that can only come if the infrastructure is first constructed.
“This is terribly good news for the Northeast Netherlands,” he continues. “This brings so much with it. Take the further development of Ter Apel, the renovation of the station area in Stadskanaal. And then this message comes. That can only be very happy about that.”
The foundation has worked very hard in recent years, says Barkhof. “It has been very intensive. We have all committed ourselves to this, from Almelo to Groningen. And now it is suddenly time.”
Chairman Melle Mulder of the Nedersaksenlijn Foundation is just as happy, but does not yet know the details of the coalition appointment.
According to the BBB, the fact that the money comes from a pot for the Lelylijn does not mean that the railway line between Groningen and Lelystad is being canceled. “There must be another reservation through the Development Strategy Large -scale Infrastructure.”
In December, the House of Representatives took another motion not to use the money for the Lelylijn for other purposes. The four coalition parties also voted for.
The province of Drenthe cannot yet respond to the news. The pain for the province is that they are of course very happy with the 1.9 billion for the Lower Saxony Line, but with the provinces of Groningen and Friesland also have agreements about the Lelylijn and that any money may not be ‘eaten’ by the Lower Saxon Line or other infrastructure projects. Working together for both projects in conjunction with housing and economy throughout the north, the so -called delta plan for the north.
In the Spring Memorandum, 100 million euros was reserved for the approach to the so -called bottle neck at Meppel. All train traffic to and from the north often gets stuck there due to malfunctions and the limited capacity at Meppel station. In addition, there are 13 ground floor considerations in the short railway route from Meppel to Zwolle, which also has to cross northern train traffic.
Around 70 million was already available for the tackling of the bottleneck. But for that, only a fourth platform and track changes can be made at Meppel station. With that you can solve part of the capacity problems and the flow of train traffic in Meppel itself, for example by separating intercity’s and slow trains. If you disrupt the train service, you then have an extra platform.
But the second problem of the bottleneck has not yet been solved: namely only two tracks between Meppel and Zwolle, which contains those 13. A few of those consideration replaced by a tunnel or viaduct, that is now the 100 million extra in the spring memorandum.